Storm Clouds
by TanaBear
Summary: Ha! He was kidding himself. There was no way in hell she was walking away, and there was no chance she was going to let HIM either.
1. Chapter 1

New story from me. Yay! Er... yeah.  
Please don't hate me if it's total crap. The idea come to me at three in the morning. Hey... You can't help it sometimes, you know?

But yes. Disclaimer - I don't own Naruto. If I did... Sasuke wouldn't be such a prick.  
Now you can read! If you want to...

--

This was my chance. If I didn't escape from them now, I never would.

-

Carefully, her eyes searched for an opening. About a yard away from her Sai was busy dealing with an enemy clone. She wasn't stupid. Actually, far from it. She knew Sai was up to something. She didn't know what it was, but it was definetely something that would hinder her plan.

A stray kunai headed straight for her. She easily dodged it. '_Really_,' she thought, 'I'm trying to concentrate!'

Her eyes darted around once again. There were too many clones in her way. Not that they were particularly strong (actually, they were quite weak), they were dealt with easily enough, which was why she was at the back of the group's formation. She was hardly getting to fight at all. Sai, Kiba and Shino dealt with the majority of them.

'There!'

She saw a straight path out of all the chaos. While her team was occupied she completed a set of handseals and before her shadow clone even formed she darted out of everyone's line of sight.

She hid behind a tree for a moment, making sure no one had caught onto her. 'Good,' she took a shakey breath in and out before she relaxed a bit. She had gotten away from them; something she thought would be a lot harder to accomplish, if at all, but she had done it.

She inhaled once again and she hid her chakra signature. She also hoped to get as close as she could to Sasuke without being detected. She would need ever advantage.

Her eyes lit up with determination and she continued on her way.

'Kiba had said Sasuke went in this direction. Hopefully he didn't decide to turn around.'

She didn't think that would be the case. The dread in her gut told her that. They would meet... and one, she was almost positive, would die.

-

"Goodbye, Danzou," Sasuke brought down his sword to the older man's throat, "I'll be seeing you in hell." Danzou's smirk died along with him as Sasuke finished the job. That was one down. All he had left were the Konoha elders.

He sheithed his bloody sword and turned towards Madara. He was last on his hit-list, for the moment, but Madara would die. Sasuke knew that the older Uchiha expected it. However, right now they were of use to eachother. It's only because of that that Sasuke wasn't dead.

He flash-stepped over to him. "We're heading to Konoha." At first the other Uchiha had said nothing. Just looked at Sasuke.

"Sasuke-kun!" Karin leapt onto him. He held back a cringe at the volume of her voice. Why was it that every single female had to be so goddamned annoy-

"Are you alright!? Oh, I'm so glad!" Karin interupted his train of thought, "I almost thought the old man might have done some-" "Karin. Shit up," and she did so, still attatched to his arm. He didn't mind right now, so long as the yelling stopped.

"Konoha will hace to wait a bit, I'm afraid." Sasuke's eyes narrowed, "Why is _that_?"

The man behind the mask laughed a bit before answering, "It would appear that you have a visitor." He pointed to something behind Sasuke before he poofed away.

"Visitor..?" Karin only then sensed another chakra. "She must be very good with chakra control if she was able to hide that long from me, undetected." The red-head detatched herself from Sasuke to try and pinpoint the exact location of this... '_visitor_'. She noted that he didn't look too worried. And he wasn't. He had a pretty good idea of who it was. He was mildly surprised, though, that she had come by herself.

"There!" Karin pointed to her right, to the end of the clearing. Sasuke turned around just as Sakura made her appearance.

-

"Sakura." Sasuke aknowledged, in a rather cold fashion. How he managed to do it Sakura would never know.

"Sasuke." She said right back.

Karin looked between them both several times. "You know her, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura couldn't help the small sting her heart felt as this other woman addressed him like that. "Aa," was all he said.

"Your vocabulary hasn't improved much, I see." Sakura forced a smirk to form on her lips. Sasuke raised a brow. Since when was Sakura so outspoken towards him?

Karin looked pissed. How dare she talk to Sasuke-kun in such a way!?

She was about to voice her opinion, but Sasuke interjected, "Karin, stand down. This doesn't require you." She just huffed and glared at Sakura. She'd get hers...

Sakura was reminded of her past self when she looked at Karin. Well, the attitude part at least. Sasuke broke up her thoughts when he stapped closer to her, "What do you want, Sakura?" The pinkette stood her ground. She had to think carefully about her words. She didn't want to set him off prematurely. It would be hard, though. She hasn't seen the boy in years (not counting the breif encounter back in sound), and to be quite frank, she was angry with him. Very angry.

"Oh, Sasuke, you can no longer give me what I want." She smiled sadly as he got closer to her. "You wouldn't have had what you wanted either way." She shook her head, "Maybe so," she said, and she took her own strides towards him, "but now it's just not _possible_." They both had stopped when there was only a few feet between them.

"Why are you really here, Sakura? I'm not going back with you."

Emerald clashed with obsidian. She tried to make out some kind of emotion within their depths, but there was nothing. She wasn't even sure if he was filled with hate anymore. He was just... dead. What he was doing now was probably just motions. No meaning behind them. He did them just because.

This only fueled her belief in what she had set out to do. It had to be done. Even if only to show him _he was __**wrong**_.

"Like I said, Sasuke, you can no longer give me what I want."

He became confused. He didn't show it, of course, but then what was her reason for being here if it wasn't to bring him back? He noticed she looked passed him. She was looking at Danzou, lying lifeless on the ground. She grew curious. "Not that I mind the asshole's dead, but what reason could _you_ possibly have had to kill him?" Sasuke's eyes narrowed dangerously, "You know nothing," he hissed out, his body now tense. Sakura tensed also, in reaction to him. She felt some of her own anger rise to the surface. "Of course not. But then again, how could I have ever known anything when you refused to tell me!"

He relaxed, slightly, and turned away. "I don't owe you an explanation. Leave."

...Ha! He was kidding himself. There was no way in hell she was walking away, and there was no chance she was going to let him either.

In the background, thunder rolled. 'How cliché,' she thought to herself.

He walked further away from her, and the girl, Karin?, followed suite.

Again, Sakura smiled to herself, gravely. She had not come ill-prepared.

"I love you Sasuke-kun! So very much! So, please... just stay here!" She saw him freeze. He turned his head slowly, expecting a teary-eyed Sakura. Instead he got the twelve-year old version, the one he remembered that night so long ago.

She was looking up at him with tears in her eyes, begging him to stay. He didn't know what to do at first. He knew in his mind that this didn't make sense; this was clearly a jutsu, but he couldn't get his mouth to open and tell her off. Especially when a cruel grin spread across her features.

"That's what you want me to say, right?" He said nothing, and she dropped her jutsu. "I'm not a naive little girl anymore, Sasuke-_kun_." She pulled a kunai from her pouch. What the heck was she doing? She could seriously think-

"I've grown up, Uchiha Sasuke, and I've come to end it. You will die by my hands."

Sasuke almost laughed. Almost. He raised a brow at her, clearly not believing her. "Don't be stupid, Sakura. You can't kill me."

...

"Wanna bet?"

Sasuke's eyes shot open when another Sakura appeared behind him, kunai to his throat. He quickly grabbed her arm, spun around and sent her flying. When she hit a nearby rock, she exploded in a cloud of smoke. "A clone," "Very good observation, but you should be paying attention to the kunoichi infront of you." She jumped back and sent a kunai towards his head. He easily dodged it and appeared behind the, still moving, girl. "And you shouldn't announce your presence and lose your advantage." He spin-kicked her side, under her ribs, and she dissapeared again. 'Another clone?'

"Sasuke, above you!" Karin shouted.

He barely had time to jump away as Sakura's fist came towards him. Unfortuneatly, he misread what she was trying to do. she wasn't aiming to hit _him_, but the ground instead. He figured it out too late, though.

Her fist collided with the earth and massive pieces of land rose up and broke, destroying anything and everything. Sasuke escaped the blast with only a small cut on his arm where a rock jutted out faster than he expected.

Sakura stood in her self-made crater and looked around for Sasuke. She felt a little satisfied when she found him, his eyes bleeding into that familliar red she had come to know as the sharingan.

"So, are you going to take me seriously now?"

--

How was it? Good? Bad? _Really_ bad? Let me know!


	2. Chapter 2

Er... So yeah. I left out the majority of the battle scene because... uh... it sucked. And, I don't know about you, but I don't like my eyes bleeding. If you know what I mean ;P

So, I welcome you to imagine the fight on your own, because I assure you, it'll be better than the one I wrote! xD

So please don't kill me! And again, I apologize for the short time-gap from the last chapter.  
Enjoy! :)

---

The battle didn't take as long as Sakura had thought. She was mildly surprised. She was even more surprised that Sasuke was losing. She had been extremely lucky to have caught him right after another battle, because she was sure she'd be on the losing side if he wasn't already worn out.

Well… the battle wasn't over yet, and Sasuke had been known to have something up his sleeve when he needed it. A lot like Naruto in way…

They were locked in a taijutsu battle now, since both were low on chakra, and if Sakura was low then Sasuke had to be close to having none left.

The kunoichi didn't excel in taijutsu, really. However, all she needed was one good punch… and there! Sasuke had made a mistake; had left an opening, and that was all she needed. He went flying backwards.

She could see Karin make a move towards Sasuke but she stopped. She may have been remembering Sasuke's orders… or realized that he wasn't killed.

"Sasuke…" Sakura stumbled over towards the fallen boy. She was exhausted, so she knew she hadn't hit him _that_ hard. So, while he hadn't moved from his spot on the ground, she knew he wasn't hurt. Er… badly, anyway. When she got a little closer, Sasuke sat up.

Was this it? Would she actually… kill him? It was all still unreal in his mind, almost like he couldn't comprehend the fact. Sakura. Weak, fragile Sakura actually beat Uchiha Sasuke. Luck, he supposed, _was_ on her side today. He was already drained from his fight with Danzou, giving Sakura a great advantage. He knew she wouldn't have won otherwise. He knew she knew it too, but it didn't matter at this point. She was standing right in front of him now, his blade in her hand.

She had to do this. She _had_ to. It was for his own good. Naruto's too, even though he would end up hating her, and even if he never understood why she had to do it. Hopefully, Kakashi would understand and explain it to him. Explain why all of this was necessary… because, as of this moment, she only had a 50/50 percent chance of surviving. The wound Sasuke had inflicted earlier was more serious than she had let on. But that was okay. Everything would be alright in the end.

"Sasuke… I have to…" He just stared at her, his eyes portraying nothing. Her eyes, on the other hand, glistened with tears she forced to keep back.

Sasuke heard thunder in the background; the storm was getting closer.

He saw her raise a shaky arm, sword poised to strike.

'I have to… I have to!' She chanted to herself, over and over. 'It's for Konoha! It's for Naruto! It's for…me.' "Damn it." She dropped the blade. It hit the earth with a thud, but didn't pierce it. Instead, it fell over on its side, creating a softer thud, and then it lay still.

Sakura cursed herself. She'd been preparing herself for this, and for what? Nothing. She still couldn't do it. Even after all this time, after all he's done. She thought she'd be able to do this, 'but I guess I was wrong.'

The Uchiha before her stood up and grabbed her arm to snap her out of her thoughts. She snapped back to reality and was instantly on her guard. When she studied him she noticed a change, however slight, in his demeanor. His features had softened and his body no longer tense. Emerald and obsidian orbs locked. She noticed a flicker of… something unfamiliar flash through them.

"Sakura." There was something in the way he said her name. There was a strong sense of finality to it. It was the end of their fighting, not just now, but forever. It was both good and bad. She had no idea what it meant. But, even more than that was a silent promise. She didn't know what the underlying message was, only that they would meet again. Well… providing she lived.

Relief washed over her. There would be no more fighting. She would have smiled just then, of it wasn't for Sasuke's sudden shock. She wasn't sure if she'd ever seen that emotion cross his face. Well, at least not while he was looking at her. So, she was confused, causing her brow to furrow slightly. Why did he look like that? It almost looked like he was, dare she say it, scared?

And then she understood. She had moved, only the tiniest bit, to look behind her only to find her movement restricted… by a small blade through her chest. She was stunned. Not only by the fact that there was a sword through her, but by the fact she hadn't felt it. She had read about strange occurrences like these. In one of her many medical books, but she couldn't recall the details. Her brain was getting foggy.

She had touched the tip of the blade and followed it to where it protruded from her. Now she knew where exactly it had hit. She took in a shaky half-breath, and even that was enough to make her spit up blood. It had hit her lung… and her heart. Both fatal. Even she, an expert medical nin., couldn't do a thing about it.

She looked up at Sasuke, the shine in her eyes fading. It was a strange feeling… to not feel this, and to still be standing.

Her vision then blurred, to the point where she could no longer make out Sasuke's face. She spit ip more blood, 'so much for a 50/50…' She could feel herself falling to the ground. "Sssa.." Sad. She couldn't even say his name without coughing up more blood. It did get his attention, though. He caught her before she hit the ground. Her dead-weight was too much for him as it were, so he fell too, but only to a sit. He was too weak from the previous battles to get back up.

The girl in his arms was only vaguely aware of someone holding her. Everything was fading so fast. Who was it? It sure felt nice…

'Oh Naruto, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.'

And then… dark.


	3. Chapter 3

Part 3

Yeah... Sorry it takes so long. I'm very bad like that... Plus the fact that this chapter is rather short. Basically, this is just to let you know I'm not completely dead.  
So, enjoy! Haha...

"What. The. Hell!" Naruto yelled as Sai explained what had happened. "You guys just _let_ her run off? You have to be kidding me!" Shino and Sai had nothing to say, but Kiba… "Hey! We were _busy_ fighting, thank you very much! Unlike some yellow-headed punk I know!" Naruto went to tackle the other boy but Kakashi had stepped in and grabbed him by his collar. "Well, this sure is productive." He put Naruto down beside Yamato and turned to the others. "Alright, Kiba, can you track Sakura down? Or, at the very least Sasuke?" Kiba huffed and crossed his arms. Akamaru nudged him with his nose and wined. Kiba sighed. "Yeah, I can do it. But we have to do it fast. After the rain hits tracking will be impossible." "Then let's go!" Naruto put his fist forward to meet Kibas. The two fists met and the team was off to find their comrade.

What just happened? One minute she was fine… the next… there was a dagger through her chest. He was too focused on her to realize what was happening around them. He was mentally kicking himself. What a stupid mistake.

With Sakura in his lap, dying, he looked around. He found who had done it. He wasn't really shocked. Just… kind of angry. He was handling the situation on his own just fine!

"Oh, come now, Sasuke. It was taking far too long." Madara said casually. He was clearly unaffected. "Plus she had seen too much. If word got back to the elders that you had killed Danzou… well, it wouldn't have been ideal." While logic told Sasuke that what he said was the best overall decision, he was still rather angry. Ugh. He didn't deal with emotions. There was a reason he left, and this was it. He didn't need this. But as he told himself this over and over, he still never managed to stand up.

Madara observed Sasuke as he just sat there. He raised a hidden brow. So… Sasuke must still have some kind of connection with his former teammates, even if he denied it. Well then, for the benefit of his future plan, he had to take care of this. And fast. He knew her teammates weren't far from them now.

So, before Sasuke even really knew what was going on, Sakura was grabbed from him and she went flying to the other end of the field and past the tree line. The boys' eyes widened. He knew what lay beyond those trees, and unfortunately for Sakura… It wasn't good.

Sakura, barely conscious, felt her body being lifted, then thrown. And right now it felt like she was flying, fast. Then, suddenly, she felt a weird sensation in her stomach. At that moment she willed her eyes open for her final moments. She felt her breathing was non-existent, and her heartbeat struggling to beat just a few more times. Her eyes focused only on the sky above her, and she realized why her stomach was full of butterflies. She was falling.

I tol you it was short! I'm sorry! I'll try and do better with the next one!


End file.
